Sick

Two and half weeks ago on January 22nd, we had to cancel our plans to meet some friends at the Children's Museum because Ben woke up with a yucky sounding cough. Who could have ever guessed how the next several weeks following would turn out?

The next day both boys had fevers, coughing and runny noses, but by Monday they seemed much improved and no one else was sick. I thought, this is great - it's over and done with. The day was exceptionally warm for January. Seriously warm. So, even though the boys were still recovering a bit, we romped in the backyard all afternoon blowing bubbles, being so happy, and feeling like it was practically summer!

And then the next day Ben started doing poorly again. The following day Jake was sick again - this time with a bad ear infection and pink eye added to the cold symptoms! Then the next day, Lizzy and I woke up with coughs. By evening, I had a fever, body aches, chills, ear ache, etc. Ben continued to have good days and bad days, as I did. Eventually, Abby and Kevin (who was only home intermittently between crab trips) got sick too - with Kevin even getting a ruptured ear drum and both of them coughing, feverish and had pink eye. And my dear baby Lizzy continued to get worse.

Last week, we went to the doctor's four out of five days between Lizzy and Jake. Our pediatrician suspected that our family has RSV - a very long-last virus that is like a bad cold for adults, but that can be much more severe for infants and young children. On Monday, the doctor diagnosed Lizzy with brochiolitis; by Wednesday, pneumonia. She was nursing extremely poorly, having only a few very barely wet diapers a day. She also vomited often and had little amounts of diarrhea the whole week. I hadn't been this scared and worried since the first week when she was born and had several severe health issues (more about that when I get around to her birth story and first week home!).

For four nights in a row, I held Lizzy upright on the couch (doctor's orders were to keep her upright and she would not sleep anywhere else in an upright position other than in someone's arms!), only catching a few moments of fitful sleep here and there. Then Kevin came home and was able to help some at night so I could get a little sleep. We've been doing nebulizer breathing treatments every 4 hours around the clock for a week now. We often go into the bathroom and turn the shower on steamy hot and we're running humidifiers and going outside late at night in the moist air and suctioning out snot - all to keep my baby breathing! When we returned to the doctor again on Friday, her sore throat was swollen so badly that the doctor was afraid her airway could swell shut and gave us strict instructions to race to St. Peter's Hospital if certain signs occurred (and almost sent us directly there herself!). I was terrified for my sweet baby girl and often couldn't sleep even when given the opportunity because I've been so worried for her.

Over the weekend, she stopped getting worse and held steady, and then by Sunday afternoon we finally saw some signs of improvement - nursing more, her voice not so hoarse, diapers getting wetter, etc. By today, things are even better - she's back to sleeping in her crib and eating well (except that I'm fighting to get my milk supply back up!!! If it's not something, it's always another, right?!!?). I'm pretty sure her sore throat is completely gone and her runny nose has improved. Unfortunately, I can still hear fluid/congestion in her lungs and so we are continuing the nebulizer treatments every four hours during the day, but last night I only did one during the night for the first time so that both she and I could rest some more now that it doesn't seem quite as critical and the periods of clear breathing after the treatments are getting longer and longer.

The doctor warned us several times that this wouldn't be a quick recovery and that we were looking at a minimum of 10 days. She wasn't kidding! Jake is going on 18 days now and woke up today much worse than yesterday (tons of gunk in his eye again, still an awful cough and a runny nose), I also had a lot of congestion again this morning, and almost everyone still has at least a lingering cough and occasional ear pain. This virus is the worst I've ever seen - coming and going, just when you think you are almost all better, you wake up the next day feeling horrible again. We are soooo ready to be done with it and back to our regular life! But I am so, so, so thankful we seem to be past the scariest part with Lizzy. Last week was hard, very hard, and I do not wish to repeat it ever again!